A turning point in Pierre's life. Pierre Bezukhov: character characteristics

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Spiritual evolution of Pierre Bezukhov

Sample essay text

Russian classical literature of the 19th century affirmed the highest spiritual moral values, the realization of which leads the heroes to harmony with the world. Perhaps there is some kind of pattern in the fact that its achievement is often impossible for intellectual nobles. Possessing many remarkable qualities, they, by virtue of their privileged position and upbringing, are doomed to a tragic break with the age-old national traditions laid down in the Russian people. Therefore, the life of a smart, critically thinking Onegin passes in the monotonous secular pleasures, giving rise to a feeling of emptiness and boredom. Pechorin wastes his rich mental strength on trifles. In my opinion, Tolstoy refers to the era of 1812 in "War and Peace" not by chance. After all, this terrible disaster that befell Russia was able to shake Russian people of different classes to the ground, make them rethink the life around them, understand and feel what is most valuable and dear in it. It was the war that could bring together in one trench or captivity a nobleman and a peasant, united by the common goal of saving the fatherland. That is, the very heroic epoch of 1812 gives the hero-intellectual a chance to come to full agreement with life, to find its highest meaning.

This theme finds its fullest expression in the image of Pierre Bezukhov, which is given by the author in the dynamics of evolution. Tracing the path of your hero. Tolstoy shows how his character changes, the worldview of the progressive person of the era is formed - a patriot, a Decembrist. At the beginning of the novel, Pierre is a fat, massive young man with an intelligent, timid and observant look that distinguishes him from the rest of the visitors to the living room. Having recently arrived from abroad, this illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov stands out in the high society salon for his naturalness, sincerity and simplicity. He is soft, supple, easily amenable to other people's influence. For example, he leads a disorderly, wild life, participating in revelry and atrocities of secular youth, although he perfectly understands the emptiness and worthlessness of such a pastime. Pierre's naivete and gullibility, inability to understand people make him make a number of life mistakes, of which the most serious is marrying the stupid and cynical beauty Helen Kuragina. By this thoughtless act, Pierre deprives himself of all hope for possible personal happiness. Having parted with his wife and given her a significant share of his fortune, he seeks to find application for his strengths and abilities in other areas of life.

Tolstoy makes the hero go through a difficult path of losses, mistakes, delusions and searches. Having become close to the Freemasons, Pierre tries to find the meaning of life in religious truth. Freemasonry gave the hero the belief that there should be a kingdom of goodness and truth in the world, and the highest happiness of a person is to strive to achieve them. But these ideas are too abstract, devoid of concrete features. Pierre cannot be satisfied with mysterious, mystical rites and sublime conversations about good and evil. He wants to find a field of action in order to translate fair and humane ideas into a concrete useful thing. Therefore, Bezukhov, like Andrei, begins to improve his serfs. All measures taken by him are imbued with sympathy for the oppressed peasantry. Pierre makes sure that only persuasive punishments are applied, and not corporal ones, so that the peasants are not burdened with overwork, and hospitals, shelters and schools are established in each estate. But all the good intentions of Pierre remained only intentions. Why, wanting to help the peasants, he could not do this? The answer is simple. His naivety, lack of practical experience, ignorance of reality prevented the young humane landowner from bringing good undertakings to life. The stupid but cunning chief executive easily fooled the smart and intelligent gentleman around the finger, creating the appearance of the exact execution of his orders.

Finally disillusioned with Freemasonry, Pierre finds himself at a dead end in life and plunges into a state of hopeless longing and despair. Feeling a strong need for high noble activity, feeling rich forces in himself, Pierre nevertheless does not see the purpose and meaning of life. The Patriotic War of 1812, the general patriotism of which captured him, helps the hero to find a way out of this state of discord with himself and the world around him. Not being a military officer, like Andrei Bolkonsky, Pierre expressed his love for the fatherland in his own way: he formed a regiment at his own expense and took it to support, while he himself remained in Moscow to kill Napoleon as the main culprit of national disasters. It was here, in the capital occupied by the French, that Pierre's selfless kindness was fully revealed. Seeing helpless people at the mercy of rampant French soldiers, he cannot remain a passive witness to the numerous human dramas unfolding before his eyes. Not thinking about his own safety, Pierre protects a woman, stands up for a lunatic, saves a child from a burning house. Before his eyes, representatives of the most cultured and civilized nation are outrageous, violence and arbitrariness are happening, people are being executed, accused of arson, which they did not commit. These terrible and painful impressions are aggravated by the conditions of captivity. But the most terrible thing for the hero is not hunger and lack of freedom, but the collapse of faith in the just structure of the world, in man and God. But in a wretched barracks, he meets with the peasant Platon Karataev, rapprochement with ordinary people. The round gentle soldier performs a real miracle, forcing Pierre to look at the world brightly and joyfully again, to believe in goodness, love, justice. Communication with Karataev causes a feeling of peace and comfort in the hero. His suffering soul warms up under the influence of the cordiality and participation of a simple Russian person. Platon Karataev has some special gift of love, a feeling of blood connection with all people. His wisdom, which struck Pierre, lies in the fact that he lives in complete harmony with everything earthly, as if dissolving in it.

A turning point occurs in Bezukhov's soul, which means the adoption of a life-loving view of the world by Platon Karataev. But the feeling of complete harmony for such an intelligent and inquisitive person as Pierre is impossible without participation in specific useful activities aimed at achieving a lofty goal - the very harmony that cannot exist in a country where the people are in the position of a slave. Therefore, Pierre naturally comes to Decembristism, joining a secret society in order to fight everything that interferes with life, humiliates the honor and dignity of a person. This struggle becomes the meaning of his life, but does not make him a fanatic who, for the sake of an idea, consciously renounces the joys of life. We see in the end of the novel a happy man who has a good family, a faithful and devoted wife who loves and is loved. Thus, it is Pierre Bezukhov who achieves spiritual harmony with the world and himself in War and Peace. He goes through the difficult path of searching for the meaning of life to the end and finds it, becoming an advanced, progressive person of his era.

So, it would be useful to note that Pierre Bezukhov is one of the author's favorite characters in the novel "War and Peace", which is why we have the pleasure of watching his numerous and sometimes unexpected metamorphoses.

For the first time we find this ridiculously dressed ridiculous man in A.P.'s living room. Scherer. “A massive, fat young man, in glasses, pantaloons and a high frill”, naturally attracts attention, but not that which gives rise to interest in the individual, but rather that which causes a condescending smile directed at a funny eccentric.

Of course, it is also worth noting that the hostess greets him with "a bow belonging to the people of the lowest hierarchy in her salon." “Only having arrived from abroad, where he was brought up,” Pierre finds himself in a completely new world for him. This world and all its inhabitants are bursting with pride to be called a secular society. Without proper training and experience, naive in every respect, Pierre bursts with his bearish figure where they are used to painstakingly and carefully weaving a sticky web of falsehood and self-interest, where they are not used to sincerity, where they are frightened and do not understand genuine interest and lively communication. Nevertheless, the inveterate hypocrisy and amazing foresight, caused by the incessant search for one's own benefit, force one to keep the future heir to the famous Catherine's nobleman and the real "bastard" near him. Although Pierre is very smart and observant, he has not yet learned to understand people, so at first he does not notice and does not feel how ropes, obviously woven from cobwebs, were tied to his "huge red hands", and then it becomes too late.

Marrying Helen is the first step on the ladder of personal development, no matter how strange it may sound. The consequences of the manifestation of spinelessness and controllability will help Pierre wake up and open his eyes to what is happening around him. From the impeccably educated, versatile beauty Helen, two pathetic words remained: “a depraved woman”; the predatory essence of Prince Vasily is revealed; the true motives of the vast majority of the people around him are clear and vulgar. Unable to avoid all this, the weak, desperate Pierre relies only on his sensuality. He lacks willpower to develop a strategy, but the emotions of resentment, anger, disappointment, injustice are so overwhelmed that they push Pierre to a rash act - challenging Dolokhov to a duel. As a rule, it is very common for weak people to make some crazy decisions under the influence of passion, it looks like the superpower of a hunted beast that has appeared from nowhere; No wonder Pierre is compared to a bear.

So, the duel is the most important episode in Pierre's life. Through death, he breaks through secular habits, becomes a person, rises to the threshold of independence.

The former Pierre would not have found the strength to become the initiator of a separation from his wife, would have come up with a large number of excuses for himself in order to drown out his conscience, and his existence as a sedate victim would have flowed measuredly until the next outburst of anger. But Pierre, renewed, starts this conversation himself and achieves his goal, despite the tricks and tricks of his cynical vile little wife.

After such an internal change for the better, L.N. Tolstoy rewards his hero with philosophical reflections on the theme of good and evil. These thoughts are born and spin in Pierre's head during his trip to St. Petersburg. The road here, of course, is symbolism. Bezukhov is in constant search for the truth of life, the meaning of human existence. And since he is still very weak internally, he instinctively looks for a mentor, an example to follow. Pierre finds him in O.A. Bazdeev, head of one of the Masonic lodges. As it seems to him, he comes to St. Petersburg renewed. But everything is not so rosy: at the initiation ceremony, Pierre experiences fear, tenderness, admiration, and he is also a little ashamed! As we remember, Pierre's inexplicable sense of shame is a kind of radar for falsity and falsity. This peculiar gift once again proves his insight, sensitivity and gentleness. In the end, Pierre comes to a terrible disappointment: he will see in Freemasonry all the same features of secular life, from which he so diligently ran away. This is similar to the situation of Prince Andrei, who, in an attempt to escape from St. Petersburg society, goes to war, but the same secular dirt reigns there.

And again, through a new disappointment, Pierre gains will, confidence, spiritual independence.

So, all the developed or reborn qualities arose immediately after and due to heavy emotional experiences and conflicting thoughts, and those, in turn, came from Pierre's disappointment in many things around him. It is paradoxical in this that Pierre did not lose faith in people and love for them, kindness, sincerity and gentleness; the only thing that is gone is childish stupid naivete.

The writing

This theme finds its fullest expression in the image of Pierre Bezukhov, which is given by the author in the dynamics of evolution. Tracing the path of your hero. Tolstoy shows how his character changes, the worldview of an advanced person of the era is formed - a patriot, a Decembrist. At the beginning of the novel, Pierre is a fat, massive young man with an intelligent, timid and observant look that distinguishes him from the rest of the visitors to the living room. Having recently arrived from abroad, this illegitimate son of Count Bezukhov stands out in the high society salon for his naturalness, sincerity and simplicity. He is soft, supple, easily amenable to other people's influence. For example, he leads a disorderly, wild life, participating in revelry and atrocities of secular youth, although he perfectly understands the emptiness and worthlessness of such a pastime. Pierre's naivete and gullibility, inability to understand people make him make a number of life mistakes, of which the most serious is marrying the stupid and cynical beauty Helen Kuragina. By this thoughtless act, Pierre deprives himself of all hope for possible personal happiness. Having parted with his wife and given her a significant share of his fortune, he seeks to find application for his strengths and abilities in other areas of life.

A turning point occurs in Bezukhov's soul, which means the adoption of a life-loving view of the world by Platon Karataev. But the feeling of complete harmony for such an intelligent and inquisitive person as Pierre is impossible without participation in specific useful activities aimed at achieving a lofty goal - the very harmony that cannot exist in a country where the people are in the position of a slave. Therefore, Pierre naturally comes to Decembristism, joining a secret society in order to fight everything that interferes with life, humiliates the honor and dignity of a person. This struggle becomes the meaning of his life, but does not make him a fanatic who, for the sake of an idea, consciously renounces the joys of being. We see in the end of the novel a happy man who has a good family, a faithful and devoted wife who loves and is loved. Thus, it is Pierre Bezukhov who achieves spiritual harmony with the world and himself in War and Peace. He goes through the difficult path of searching for the meaning of life to the end and finds it, becoming an advanced, progressive person of his era.

Human life is complex and multifaceted. At all times, there were moral values, to step over which meant forever incurring disgrace and contempt. The dignity of a person is manifested in his striving for high goals. I would like to dedicate my essay to the hero of Leo Tolstoy's epic novel "War and Peace" Pierre Bezukhov. This amazing person cannot but arouse interest. Pierre is focused on his personality, but he is not immersed in himself. He is keenly interested in life around. For him, the question is very acute: “Why live and what am I”? This question is of great importance to him. Bezukhov thinks about the meaninglessness of life and death, that it is impossible to find the meaning of being; about the relativity of all truths. Secular society is alien to Pierre, in empty and meaningless communication he cannot find his truth.

The questions that torment Pierre cannot be solved by mere theoretical reasoning. Even reading books can't help here. Pierre finds answers to his questions only in real life. Human suffering, contradictions, tragedies - these are all integral components of life itself. And Pierre is completely immersed in it. He approaches the truth, being at the epicenter of events, tragic and terrible * The spiritual formation of Bezukhov is somehow affected by war, the fire of Moscow, French, the suffering of people with whom he encounters very closely. Pierre gets the opportunity to come face to face with the life of the people. And this cannot leave him indifferent.

On the way to Mozhaisk, Pierre was overcome by a special feeling: “the deeper he plunged into this sea of troops, the more he was seized by anxiety, anxiety and a new joyful feeling that he had not yet experienced ... He now experienced a pleasant feeling of consciousness that everything that makes up people, the comforts of life, wealth, even life itself, is nonsense, which is pleasant to put aside in comparison with something ... ".

On the Borodino field, Pierre understood “... the whole meaning and all the significance of this war and the upcoming battle ... He understood that hidden (la(enle), as they say in physics, the warmth of patriotism that was in all those people whom he saw , and which explained to him why all these people calmly and, as it were, thoughtlessly prepared for death.

After Pierre was next to the soldiers, imbued with their courage, it began to seem to him the most correct and wise to merge with them, with simple, but wise in their understanding of life, people. It is no coincidence that he says: "To be a soldier, a simple soldier! ... Enter this common life with your whole being, imbue with what makes them so."

Throughout his life, Pierre had many hobbies and disappointments. There was a period when Pierre admired Napoleon; there was also a period of passion for Freemasonry. However, in the process of moral rebirth, Pierre abandons his former hobbies and comes to the ideas of Decembrism. Communication with the common people had a huge impact on his formation. From the very first minutes of meeting Pierre, we understand that we have an outstanding, sincere, open nature. Pierre feels uncomfortable in secular society, and society does not accept him as his own, despite even the rich inheritance that Bezukhov received from his father. He is not like the regulars of secular salons. Pierre is too different from them to be his own.

In the process of communicating with soldiers, mainly with Platon Karataev, Pierre Bezukhov begins to understand life better. Now his thoughts are no longer abstract, speculative. He wishes to direct his forces to real actions that could help others. For example, Bezukhov seeks to help those who suffered from the war. And in the epilogue, he joins the secret society of the Decembrists. This decision was obviously influenced by everything he saw in the process of communicating with ordinary people. Now Bezukhov understands well all the contradictions of life, and, as far as possible, wants to fight them. He says: “Theft is in the courts, in the army there is only one stick: shagistics, settlements, they torment the people, they stifle education. What is young, honestly, is ruined!

Pierre not only understands and condemns all the contradictions and shortcomings of life. He has already reached that moral and spiritual development, when the intentions to change the existing reality are obvious and necessary: "let there be not only virtue, but independence and activity."

The moral quest of Pierre Bezukhov makes his image especially interesting for us. It is known that Pierre herself served as the basis for the concept of the novel War and Peace. The fact that the image of Pierre is shown in development speaks of the author's special disposition towards him. In the novel, static images are those that do not call for warm feelings from the writer.

Pierre cannot but delight readers with his kindness, sincerity, and directness. There are moments when his abstract reasoning, isolation from life, seem incomprehensible. But in the process of his development, he overcomes the weaknesses of his nature and moves from the need for reflection to the need for action.